Glenwood Springs, CO - Suspect Attempts to Steal Cop Car - Nets Pepper Spray in Face - Gets Handcuffs and Jail Cell
Glenwood Springs Correspondent
Vail CO, Colorado
December 5, 2007
GLENWOOD SPRINGS — A man was arrested after allegedly trying to steal a
police patrol vehicle and then getting pepper sprayed in the face.
Charles Leonard King Jr., 26, was arrested around 1 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of
aggravated motor vehicle theft and resisting arrest.
Around 1 a.m. Sunday, Glenwood Springs police responded to a panic alarm at
Valley View Hospital. A male subject had been transported to the emergency room
and then became combative and left the hospital, according to an arrest
affidavit.
Police Chief Terry Wilson said the hospital staff was concerned enough that they
locked the doors leading inside.
According to police, when officers arrived they found King lying in the gutter
outside with no shirt on while it was snowing. King wouldn’t get up and was
mumbling, police said.
Officers requested a wheelchair to transport him. King jumped up and began
running toward the patrol vehicle nearby while officers yelled at him to stop,
the affidavit says.
King pulled the door handle and tried to enter the patrol vehicle, which was
running, the affidavit says, and when an officer got to about five feet away
from King, King allegedly clenched his fists, cursed and stepped toward the
officer. The officer sprayed King in the face with pepper spray and arrested
him, the affidavit says.
“As King was being transported to the (Garfield County Jail), he asked, “Why are
my hands cuffed?’” the affidavit says. “I told him he was under arrest for
attempting to steal my patrol vehicle. King said, ‘I’ll never try that
again.’”